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Resources: TREE programme

What does Woodcraft Folk mean to you? As a Pioneer at group night? As a DF at district camp? As a Venturer on a regional committee?

Follow the Trail was a programme that helped us all answer questions like this, so that the Woodcraft Folk experience got better all the time – whatever your age or role.

There are activities, resources, tools and templates to make reviewing and renewing the Woodcraft Folk serious fun at every level. Joining the trail at one of its many entry points and sharing what you discover along it is something we ask every group, district, region, nation, centre, project and committee to do as we reaffirm our shared values.

Below you can download the whole programme of activities for Venturers and DFs as well as Elfins and Pioneers, including:

Woodcraft Crumble - create a recipe to explain what shared values make up Woodcraft Folk and how your group is unique

Cosmic Consequences - encouraging Pioneers to imagine how small changes can make big differences

Badge Game - get your Elfins to design a new badge and think about what skills they learn in Woodcraft

The activities are arranged into 6 sections, each one looking at a different aspect of Woodcraft Folk, with an introduction to start you off in each section. Any worksheets needed to run the activity are included at the end of the section. There are activities of varying length and depth so you can put a few together to form a group night plan.

Once you've read through the activity plans, try one out with your Elfin or Pioneer group as a taster.

Experience of group night activities, camps, projects and commitees has a really positive impact on children and young people in Woodcraft Folk.

Below you can download a summary of what young people told Cadence, our external evaluators, about the impact youth participation in Woodcraft Folk has had on them. The survey was conducted amongst young people who have experienced either activities run at a local or camp level supported by TREE resources, or activities run by the TREE team themselves:

Our Times is the new campaign from young people around Woodcraft Folk, who want to give other young people a platform to be heard on social and political issues including war. The aim is to enable young people to educate each other on the issues they care about, and enable wider society to hear and respect young people's views.

We've put together a range of activities to get your Venturer group thinking about society and what they care about most in it. Download the PDF below.

Our Times is the new campaign from young people around Woodcraft Folk, who want to give other young people a platform to be heard on social and political issues including war. The aim is to enable young people to educate each other on the issues they care about, and enable wider society to hear and respect young people's views.

We've put together a range of activities to get your Pioneer group thinking about society and what they care about most in it.

Click the link below to download the new pack of Follow the Trail group resource for Elfin and Pioneer groups.

It's a handy tool for group leaders, packed with new ideas and inspiration. It's a booklet crammed full of group night activities focussing on 'what does Woodcraft mean to you?'' and making this experience get better and better.

Click the link below to download the new pack of Follow the Trail group resource for Venturer and DF groups.

It's a handy tool for group leaders, packed with new ideas and inspiration. It's a booklet crammed full of group night activities focussing on 'what does Woodcraft mean to you?'' and making this experience get better and better.

Helpful information for anyone who wants to champion young people's participation at all levels of Woodcraft Folk. Created from a weekend's training activities run by the TREE team for young people from Districts all over Woodcraft Folk.

Please share with your group and help them give young members a voice and influence at every level of Woodcraft Folk!

What is this resource?

Choose it, Plan it, Do it! is a Woodcraft Folk activity pack containing a selection of ideas and tools for gathering ideas, planning and making decisions in groups of all ages. The pack is divided into three parts, with subsections. Each section is packed full of useful activities to make planning and decision making as a group easy, fun, inclusive and inventive.

Below you can download the Welcome to Venturers leaflet, which was created by young people in the TREE Communications Group to help anyone moving up from Pioneers into Venturers, or who has recently arrived in Venturers.

The leaflet is A4 size, in two parts - the inside and the outside. Download them both and photocopy them so they're on each side of an A4 page. To make the leaflet, fold each of the side panels in, starting with the right one as you look at the inside.

The TREE programme, which ran from 2009 to 2014, supported young Woodies aged 10 - 18 to have their voices heard, to take on new roles and challenges, and to learn new skills such as communication, facilitation, decision-making and many forms of leadership.

Although funding for the work has currently finished, empowering young people is still very important in Woodcraft Folk. Here you can download a list of TREE's main messages for Woodcraft Folk - please read, remember and act on these!